Objectives. To explore themagnitude and determinants of burnout among emergency physicians and nurses working at emergency\ndepartments of hospitals in Abha and Khamis Mushait cities. Subjects and Methods. A cross-sectional hospital-based study\nwas conducted in emergency departments of hospitals in Abha and Khamis Mushait cities belonging to Ministry of Health.\nAll physicians (n=95) and nurses (n=187) currently working at these sites were invited to participate in the study by filling a\nvalidated self-administered questionnaire including two main sections: personal and professional characteristics of physicians\nand nurses as well as Maslach burnout inventory (MBI) to assess the three components of the burnout syndrome: emotional\nexhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Results. The study included 282 physicians and nurses.\nThe age of more than half of them (54.3%) ranged between 31 and 35 years. Most of them (70.9%) were females. About two thirds\nof the respondents (66.3%) were nurses while the remaining 33.7% were physicians. Majority of the emergency healthcare\nprofessionals (88.7%) had high emotional exhaustion. The prevalence of high depersonalization (cynicism) was 20.6% whereas\nthat of low personal accomplishment was 41.1% among emergency healthcare professionals. The overall prevalence of burnout\namong healthcare professionals was 16.3%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that male healthcare professionals\nwere at almost higher three-folded risk for developing burnout compared to females (aOR=2.76; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.21-\n6.28, p=0.017)). Smokers were at higher significant risk for burnout compared to nonsmokers (aOR=15.37; 95% CI: 7.06-33.45,\np<0.001). Healthcare professionals who reported a history of taking medications for sleep disorders expressed higher risk for\nburnout opposed to those with no history of sleep disorder medication (aOR=6.59; 95% CI: 2.08-20.81, p=0.001). Conclusion. A\nconsiderable proportion of physicians and nurses working at emergency departments of hospitals in Abha and Khamis Mushait\ncities had burnout syndrome, particularly high emotional exhaustion and low personal accomplishment.
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